Giving Tree joins Neighbors Helping Neighbors

Major changes are happening to the Mount Horeb Area Giving Tree, as the charitable holiday initiative transitions to become part of Neighbors Helping Neighbors, the community’s most prominent non-profit organization dedicated to helping those in need.   

Each year, the Giving Tree works with the local community to bring gifts to low-income children, disabled adults and senior citizens. All applicants live within the Mount Horeb Area School District. It has been a labor of love for the many people who have volunteered to run the program over the past three decades.

The initiative’s mission is “to provide a way for people to express their generosity toward others as well as help the people in need during the holiday season.” Volunteers say generosity benefits the giver as well as the receiver, and “the rewards from this effort are abundant for the community.”

It has touched the lives of thousands of local people since its inception. The idea was simple when it was dreamed up: to replicate the Giving Trees seen in Madison-area malls. Community members in need would apply through the food pantry or directly through local Giving Tree coordinators. Applications were also available at the State Bank of Mount Horeb and the United Methodist Church. Gifts were for “the needy or the lonely.” The Giving Trees were located in the State Bank of Mount Horeb downtown and Kalscheur’s Fine Foods.  Community members took tags off the trees and returned later with wrapped gifts to give.

The first year, two Giving Tree coordinators delivered all the gifts to recipients’ homes – totalling about 30 to 40 families – in a blizzard. They subsequently decided it would be better to have a single distribution point so people could pick up their own gifts.

Church groups, 4-H clubs, Brownies, Girl Scouts, and classrooms of students joined annually to support the Giving Tree. For years, all the gifts were wrapped at distribution.

In 1997, the Giving Tree gave gifts to 80 people.  By 1999, the number had increased to 131. In 2000, Giving Tree sites included the two Amcore Bank sites, Kalscheur’s Fine Foods, Prairie Bookstore, and State Bank of Cross Plains. Giving Tree canisters for cash donations were also placed around the village.

By 2002, the Giving Tree provided 300 gifts and bought Mount Horeb Chamber of Commerce gift certificates for senior citizens. In 2004, the Mount Horeb Intermediate Center began coordinating donations for clothing, books, and hygiene items. In 2008,  the Giving Tree started working directly with MARC, computerized its process, and expanded the number of area Giving Tree sites to all the banks, the Chamber of Commerce Welcome Center, and the COOP.  When possible, the organization started to focus on buying in the community.

In 2014, the Giving Tree served 137 children, 19 seniors, and 55 people with disabilities for a total of 211 recipients and more than 400 gifts. By five years ago, the Giving Tree served 280 children, seniors, and people with disabilities in the Mount Horeb area.  

But the growth of the program has made it increasingly cumbersome for a small, dedicated group of volunteers to run. So the people behind the scenes began looking for ways to streamline operations and help as many people as possible each holiday season.

As a result, the Giving Tree is now joining forces with Neighbors Helping Neighbors, with its ample resources, legion of dedicated volunteers and vast connections to funding and other groups proving helpful. And that’s not all. The Werndli Charitable Fund, which many readers will recall recently purchased Summer Frolic midway tickets that were distributed to those in need, is also stepping up to the plate. Pamela Lunder, the attorney for the Werndli Charitable Fund, said that organization is excited to help.

“The Werndli Charitable Fund had reached out to NHN and [Neighbors Helping Neighbors board member] Janna [Hansen] regarding the status of the Giving Tree and she confirmed that it was being merged into part of the NHN family,” said Lunder. “This made sense since NHN is a registered charitable organization and the prior Giving Tree was not.  Being under the umbrella of a charitable organization which is a 501c3 allows people who donate to have a charitable deduction.  While the community members always step up in a big way to help out those in need, there are always more requests then gifts to fill them.”

“This is where the Giving Tree and now NHN will step in to fill the gap, which can require a significant amount of money,” explained Lunder. “The goal is to fill every tag (wish) that is submitted so everyone can enjoy the holidays.  Talk about a super Santa!  This is why it is so important to get your ducks in a row now so the funds are there for a banner December.”

“The Giving Tree folks transferred the remaining funds to NHN to help with the budget for 2023,” she said. “However, it was about one-half of the projected cost so additional funds need to be obtained.  After discussing this further with Janna, the Werndli Charitable Fund set up a $5,000 matching grant to help fund that shortfall, which Janna indicated will run through August 31. This means that every $1 donated will be matched so it becomes a $2 donation. Having done this before with several charitable partners, it is amazing how much folks love a matching grant when they know it gives their own donation some extra muscle! The Werndli Charitable Fund is pleased to be able to again support such an important community activity.”

Find out more at www.mthorebneighbors.org.